Stadium chair

ABSTRACT

A stadium chair of folding construction having compartments enclosed within both the seat and back portions for readily accessible storage of blankets, food and drink containers, and other accessories.

United States Patent Lorenz Inventor Charles E. Harp 2,613,369 10/1952 2110 Harper SL, Pasadena, Tex. 77502 2,705,994 4/1955 Stattler Appl. No. 812,679 3,155,427 11/1964 Necessary Filed Apr. 2, 1969 3,336,077 8/1967 Radte Patented Juiy 20,1971 3,338,629 8/1967 Dress FOREiGN PATENTS STADIUM CHAIR 554,343 1/1957 Italy 5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs. 1,364,052 5/1964 France US. C1 297/252, Primary ExaminerfReinaldo Machado 297 37 Att0rneyR. Werlm int. C1 A417c 1/16 Field of Search 297/252, 378,379,184,191,193,192,194,188

ABSTRACT: A stadium chair of fo1ding construction having References cued compartments enclosed within both the seat and back por- UNITED STATES PATENTS tions for readily accessible storage of blankets, food and drink 2,509,420 5/1950 Burch .1 297/252 containers, and other accessories.

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PATENTED JUL20 um SHEET 3 0F 3 3 594 039 INVIL N'I UR.

ATTORNEY STADIUM CI'llAllit Spectators who attend various sports events in the conventional open stadiums, commonly will use stadium seats, of one of the many forms presently available, for comfort. These more conventional seats will generally comprise a folding or collapsible structure consisting of hingedly connected padded back and seat portions and some form of device for anchoring the seat to the edge of benches commonly provided in sports stadiums.

Usually spectators will bring with them additional items, such as blankets, raineoats, or other protective apparel, con tainers of food and drink and other articles designed to in crease the comfort and pleasure of the occasion. The carrying, handling and storage of such additional items ordinarily involve much inconvenience, annoyance, and difficulty, particularly under the conditions encountered in the movements of large masses of people.

The present invention, therefore, is directed to an improved form of stadium chair which, in addition to its primary seating function, will provide means for storing and transporting the numerous auxiliary comfort items so as to obviate difficulties and inconveniences such as mentioned above.

In accordance with the present invention, the stadium chair comprises generally U-shaped back and seat frame members of tubular metallic construction, hingedly connected to permit 7 the back frame member to swing between an upright position relative to the seat frame member and a collapsed or folded position overlying the seat frame member and generally parallel thereto.

The seat frame member supports a generally rectangular boxlike housing, constructed of a light but rigid plastic material, the top of which is closed by a padded lid hinged to the housing and forming the seat proper. The housing encloses one or more compartments for the storage of various comfort items.

The back frame member includes a padded back rest for supporting the back of the user, and carrying on its rear face a boxlike housing compartmented to receive additional comfort items and having a hinged lid for closing its upper end.

The opposite sides of the seat frame carry U-shaped anchor hooks arranged for rotary movement between one position anchoring the seat frame to an underlying support bench and a second position releasably engageable with a keeper clip on the back frame for locking the seat and back portions together in the collapsed position for easy carriage.

Other and more specific objects and advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which illustrates a useful embodiment in accordance with this invention.

In the drawing:

FIG. l is a side elevational view iilustrating the chair in use with a protective awning;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the chair in erect position shown in full lines and with the back portion shown in broken lines when in collapsed or folded position;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken generally on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the chair in erect position;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 545 of FIG. Al;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the back portion taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the back portion taken on line 8-8 of FIG. t.

Referring to the drawing, the chair structure includes a U shaped seat frame, designated generally by the numeral 110, and a U-shaped back frame, designated generally by the numeral 12. The seat frame comprises a transverse crossmember I14 and a pair of parallel side arms iii-l6. The back frame member likewise comprises a transverse crossmember I8 and parallel side arms 20-20. A pair of hinge links 2222 hingedly connects the frame members to each other. The opposite ends of the hinge links are pivotally connected by pivot pins 24 and 2s to the arms in and 20 at points spaced from the respective crossmembcrs, so that when the back frame is swung forwardly to the collapsed position, shown in broken lines in FIG. 2, it will overlie the seat frame in spaced relation and substantially parallel thereto.

The frame members are desirably constructed of square metallic tubes, although it will be understood that the tubing may be round instead of square, as shown. A U-shaped anchor book 30 having parallel side branches 3i and 32 is mounted in the forward end of each ofthc seat frame arms 16, side branch 31 of the hook being inserted through a square bushing 33 (FIG. 3) coaxially into the bore of the arm for free rotation therein about the axis of the arm. The outer or free branch 32 is adapted, when in the dependent position shown in FIG. 2, to be hooked over the front edge of a stadium bench B (FIG 4) or other support structure to anchor the chair thereto. When not so used, the hook is employed to secure the seat and back portions of the chair together in the folded or collapsed position for easy carriage. For this purpose, each of the arms 20 of the back frame carries a hook-shaped keeper clip 34 pivotally attached to arm 20, so as to swing downwardly alongside the back portion when the latter is folded forward over the seat portion. When in this position, books 30 may be rotated about branches 3ll to an upper position at which the clips 34 will receive branches 32, as best seen in FIG. 3, to thereby lock the back and seat portions together.

Seat frame l0 supports the seat portion of the chair, designated generally by the numeral 4M and comprises a rectangular boxlike housing 42 constructed of light, but rigid, plastic material of any well-known type, and defined by a bottom wall d3, sidewalls Aid-44, a front wall &5 and a rear wall 46. Bottom wall d3 is provided with a marginal flange 47 which provides means for attaching the housing, by any ap propriate means, to the adjacent structural elements of seat frame it as seen particularly in FIGS. 3 and 5. The upper end of housing 412 is closed by a lid 43, which is hingedly secured to the housing along its rearward margin by means of one or more hinges 49, which permits ready access to the interior of the housing. The latter forms a storage compartment for vari ous items, such as blankets, raincoats, etc. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a radio R may be mounted in front wall 45 with its control knobs projecting exteriorly of the front wall for ready ac cess by someone seated on the seat. A resilient pad 50 of foamed rubber or plastic enclosed by a flexible cover 51 is disposed on top of lid 48 and forms the seat cushion for the chair. For further convenience, a tray 52 may be slidably mounted on bottom wall 63 for extension from and retraction into the interior of housing d2 through a suitable opening 53 in front wall 45. A cross strap Ed is mounted on bottom wall 43 interiorly of the housing to extend over tray 52 to guide the same, and cooperates with a flange 55 on the rearward end of the tray to limit its outward movement. The forward end of tray 52 may have openings 56 to receive drinking glasses, beverage bottles or the like, shown in broken lines at G in FIG. 5.

Back frame member 112 is provided with a resilient back pad 60 constructed of foamed plastic or rubber, encased between plastic cover sheets 61, which extends between the arms 20 of the frame and is suitably attached thereto by any conventional means to serve as a support for the back of the user. Mounted on the rear face of the back member between arms 20 is a compartmented casing, designated generally by the numeral 59, constructed of a suitable plastic material, having a closed bottom 62 and a top 63 connected by hinges Ml to the upper end'of outer wall 65 of the casing to provide ready access to the interior thereof. The interior of the casing is compartmented by means of laterally spaced partitions 66 extending between outer wall 65 and back pad 60 to provide two outer compartments 67-67 and a middle compartment 68 (FIGS. 3

and 8). It will be understood that compartmentation may be varied to any extent and in any manner which may be found desirable.

As illustrated, outer compartments 67 may be employed, as best seen in FIG. 8, to receive beverage containers, such as thermos bottles T-T, while central compartment 68 may have its wall lined by insulation 69 to provide a receptacle for ice cubes or other items of similar character.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 7, the arms of the back frame member may be employed as a receptacle for telescoping flexible rods 70, which may be pulled out and extended to form stanchions, the outer ends of which may be equipped for attachment of cords 72 carrying hooks 73 by which the ends of the stanchions may be bent forwardly over the chair and hooked beneath the edge of the stadium bench, as shown in FIG. 1. The stanchions will then provide a frame over which a covering may be placed to form an awning to thereby provide additional protection for the user.

The portions of cover sheets 61 on back pad 60 may be provided with an opening 75 in a portion thereof extending above the padded portion to form a grip for the user to enable him to carry the chair, particularly in its folded condition, as seen in FIG. 2.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that the device constructed as illustrated and described herein, provides a comfortable, compact and highly utilitarian chair adapted especially for use by a spectator at sport stadiums and other outdoor locations.

It will be understood that various alterations and modifications may be made in the details of the illustrative embodiment within the scope of the appended claims but without departing from the spirit of this invention.

lclaim:

1. A stadium chair, comprising:

a. first and second U-shaped tubular, metallic frame members for respectively supporting the seat and back portions of the chair hingedly connected to permit the back portion to swing between upright and parallel positions relative to the seat portion;

b. means for releasably securing said chair to a supporting base, said means comprising a pair of generally U-shaped anchor hooks each having one of its side branches coaxially inserted for free rotation in the forward end of each of the arms of the seat frame member and having the free side branch disposed for anchoring engagement with said base; c, a keeper clip carried by each of the arms of the back member disposed to lockingly receive said free side branch of the related hook when the back frame member is in said parallel position whereby to lock said back and seat portions to each other in the parallel position; and

d. said back portion including:

1. a padded back support member extending between the arms of the back frame member;

2. a hollow casing mounted on the back frame member rearwardly of the support member;

3. a hinged lid closing the upper end of the casing;

4. partition means dividing the interior of the easing into a plurality of separate storage compartments; and

5. at least one of said compartments having its walls lined with heat-insulating lining.

2. A stadium chair according toclaim I wherein said seat portion includes:

a. a rectangular boxlike housing constructed of a rigid plastic material mounted between the arms of the seat frame member and defining a storage enclosure;

b. a hinged lid for closing the upper end of said housing; and

c. a resilient cushion on the upper face of the lid.

3. A stadium chair according to claim 2 including a horizontally disposed tray slidably mountedfor movement into and out of the housing through the forward wall thereof.

4. A stadium chair according to claim 1, including telescoping, flexible stanchions mounted in the ends of the arms of the back frame member for extension and retraction therefrom.

5. A stadium chair comprising:

a. first and second U-shaped tubular, metallic frame members for respectively supporting the seat and back portions of the chair hingedly connected to permit the back portion to swing between upright and parallel positions relative to the seat portion;

b. cooperating hook means on said frame members operable in one relation to releasably secure said seat portion to a supporting base and in another relation to lock said portions to each other in said parallel position;

0. a hollow casing mounted on the back frame member;

d. partition means dividing the interior with a plurality of separate storage compartments;

e. at least one of said storage compartments having its walls lined with a heat-insulating lining; and

f. a hinged lid closing the upper end of said casing. 

1. A stadium chair, comprising: a. first and second U-shaped tubular, metallic frame members for respectively supporting the seat and back portions of the chair hingedly connected to permit the back portion to swing between upright and parallel positions relative to the seat portion; b. means for releasably securing said chair to a supporting base, said means comprising a pair of generally U-shaped anchor hooks each having one of its side branches coaxially inserted for free rotation in the forward end of each of the arms of the seat frame member and having the free side branch disposed for anchoring engagement with said base; c. a keeper clip carried by each of the arms of the back member disposed to lockingly receive said free side branch of the related hook when the back frame member is in said parallel position whereby to lock said back and seat portions to each other in the parallel position; and d. said back portion including:
 1. a padded back support member extending between the arms of the back frame member;
 2. a hollow casing mounted on the back frame member rearwardly of the support member;
 3. a hinged lid closing the upper end of the casing;
 4. partition means dividing the interior of the casing into a plurality of separate storage compartments; and
 5. at least one of said compartments having its walls lined with heat-insulating lining.
 2. a hollow casing mounted on the back frame member rearwardly of the support member;
 2. A stadium chair according to claim 1 wherein said seat portion includes: a. a rectangular boxlike housing constructed of a rigid plastic material mounted between the arms of the seat frame member and defining a storage enclosure; b. a hinged lid for closing the upper end of said housing; and c. a resilient cushion on the upper face of the lid.
 3. A stadium chair according to claim 2 including a horizontally disposed tray slidably mounted for movement into and out of the housing through the forward wall thereof.
 3. a hinged lid closing the upper end of the casing;
 4. partition means dividing the interior of the casing into a plurality of separate storage compartments; and
 4. A stadium chair according to claim 1, including telescoping, flexible stanchions mounted in the ends of the arms of the back frame member for extension and retraction therefrom.
 5. at least one of said compartments having its walls lined with heat-insulating lining.
 5. A stadium chair comprising: a. first and second U-shaped tubular, metallic frame members for respectively supporting the seat and back portions of the chair hingedly connected to permit the back portion to swing between upright and parallel positions relative to the seat portion; b. cooperating hook means on said frame members operable in one relation to releasably secure said seat portion to a supporting base and in another relation to lock said portions to each other in said parallel position; c. a hollow casing mounted on the back frame member; d. partition means dividing the interior with a plurality of separate storage compartments; e. at least one of said storage compartments having its walls lined with a heat-insulating lining; and f. a hinged lid closing the upper end of said casing. 